A useful feature of a game board is a playing surface large enough for users to utilize comfortably. Additionally, a feature by which the game board can fold economizes storage space, as does a feature by which playing pieces may be stored within the game board and kept ready for use. Each of these features and considerations enhance the convenience for use, portability, and storage of a game board.
Conventional game boards fold along an axis so that the game board can be folded to form two similar halves. Each of these halves may be recessed so that when folded together they combine to form an enclosed storage area. Playing pieces associated with the game board, such as chess pieces for a chessboard, may be stored within such a storage area. Regarding the size of such a storage area, a conventional game board which folds in half generally provides the appropriate surface area (neither too small nor excessively spacious) to accommodate a full relatively-sized set of horizontally-arranged chess pieces. Additionally, as even the largest playing piece for the game of chess fits within one chessboard square, the enclosure's minimum depth may be based on the measure of the side of one chessboard square in order to accommodate the playing pieces stored horizontally. As the two recessed halves of such a conventional game board combine to produce the enclosed storage area, and as the depth of the enclosed storage area is the size of one side of one chessboard square deep, the depth of each of the two recessed halves is half the depth of the enclosed storage area, that is, one-half the size of one side of one chessboard square deep.
Some conventional game board designs fold along multiple axes, which permits larger game boards to be folded into more convenient sizes. For example, a game board may be folded into quarters rather than halves. This type of game board is made by placing a cut in the playing surface by which two adjacent quarters of the game board separate and move apart when the game board is folded. While this type of conventional folding game board offers the convenience of size, it does not permit the possibility of storing playing pieces.
Conventional game boards that both fold along multiple axes and provide storage space exist. One conventional design includes a game board that folds into quarters. Two of those quarters, the opposite sides of which comprise half of the playing surface, have recessed bottoms which fold and close together to form an enclosure within which playing pieces may be stored. The other two sections, the opposite sides of which comprise the other half of the playing surface, do not have recessed bottoms; these two sections are the same size as the sections which are recessed, and these two sections fold and stack upon the enclosure. The folded board creates one enclosure having a surface area that is only one-fourth the size of the game board, which is about one-half the surface area afforded by a game board that folds in half. This conventional design provides a small storage area suitable for only small game pieces, such as checkers. As discussed above, the necessary area of the storage compartment for playing pieces associated with certain game boards, such as chess pieces arranged horizontally, is approximately the surface area afforded by a conventional game board which folds in half, that is, the surface area created by a surface area of one-half a chessboard, with a depth of the size of one side of a chessboard square. Although the storage area of such a conventional quarter-folding design may be made deeper in order to accommodate a similar volume of contents, that modification would necessitate a corresponding thickening of all four sections, and that conventional quarter-folding design would thus yield a cumbersome and inefficient design if used for larger playing pieces, such as chess pieces. Accordingly, conventional quarter-folding game boards do not offer the storage area conveniences of conventional game boards that fold in half.
Thus, a need presently exists in the art for a game board that offers the advantages of sufficient storage area space for playing pieces of a game board that folds in half as well as the advantages of the compactness of a game board that folds in quarters.